BETHESDA, Md., Feb. 1, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Consero Group, an international leader in creating high-level, invitation-only events for senior executives, in partnership with Applied Discovery, a worldwide leader in electronic discovery and legal risk management, today announced the findings of the Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey. According to the survey, 30 percent of General Counsel surveyed indicated that their corporations are not prepared to defend against cyber attacks. In addition, 28 percent of respondents said their companies had experienced a cyber security breach in the past 12 months.

"The findings of the Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey are alarming," said Paul Mandell, Founder & CEO of Consero Group. "From cyber terrorism to competitive attacks to random hacking, the proliferation of security breaches remains a growing threat facing corporations. A renewed focus on preparedness and collaboration with their CIO counterparts seems necessary as GCs confront evolving threats in 2013. The stakes are high for GCs--particularly in highly regulated areas."

The Consero 2012 General Counsel Survey was developed with the support of Applied Discovery in conjunction with Consero's invitation-only event for a group of Fortune 1000 General Counsel in December 2012. Additional findings spoke to the health of legal departments in terms of staff size, budgets, salary, and access to upper management.

Most budgets and staff sizes remained intact or increased, and a majority (72 percent) reported that they were satisfied with the level of resources available to them. Most of the respondents (54 percent) said that they report directly to the CEO, and an overwhelming 91 percent say they have sufficient access to their CEOs. GC's continue to be well compensated with salaries of the surveyed participants ranging from $175,000 to over $400,000.

"Fortune 1000 companies clearly recognize the importance of the legal function, and they continue to arm GCs with the resources and access required to manage in-house legal departments effectively," said Mandell.

About Consero

Founded in 2010, Consero is an international leader in creating industry-specific events for senior-level executives in industries that include: Legal, Compliance, Shared Services, Customer Experience, Finance, IT, HR, and Procurement. With operations in the U.S. and in Europe, Consero is best known for transforming the executive experience through intimate, invitation-only programs in a sophisticated learning environment with high-level content. For more information on Consero, please visit consero.com.

About Applied Discovery®Applied Discovery (http://www.applieddiscovery.com/) is a worldwide electronic discovery leader offering multinational collection, early case assessment (ECA), processing, hosting, production, and managed review services for law firms, corporations, and government agencies. Founded in 1998, Applied Discovery is based in Bellevue, WA, with East Coast headquarters in New York City and regional offices in Washington, DC, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, and Austin.